The present invention concerns a perfume diffuser and a system for diffusing a perfume including a perfume diffuser in accordance with the present invention.
In what follows, the diffusion of a perfume covers both the evaporation of a perfume or a perfumed substance in the form of a liquid or gel and the sublimation of a perfume or a perfumed substance in the form of a solid.
The perfume burner is a prior art perfume evaporator adapted to cooperate with a source of heat and with means adapted to receive or to constitute a container containing a substance adapted to diffuse a perfume on evaporating or sublimating, the diffuser and these means being adapted to transmit to said substance a portion of the heat produced by said source.
In a conventional configuration of the perfume burner, the source of heat is a small candle which is placed under the container, which generally contains a liquid adapted to evaporate a perfume, and which heats the container to heat said substance so that it evaporates.
The above perfume burner has a number of disadvantages. Variation of the distance between the flame and the perfume makes it impossible to adjust the temperature of the substance adapted to diffuse said perfume during use of the perfume burner. More particularly, it is very difficult to maintain the temperature of this substance in the temperature range from approximately 40.degree. C. to approximately 65.degree. C., which is the ideal temperature range for diffusing a perfume. The difficulty of adjusting the temperature of the substance makes it difficult to adjust the speed of diffusion of the perfume. The temperature reached during evaporation of the perfumed substance is above 65.degree. C., which limits the choice of perfumes and reduces their olfactory quality. The capacity of the reservoir containing the perfumed substance is limited and obliges the user to refill it frequently to obtain continuous operation over several hours (the life of a candle, for example).
The whole of the perfume burner is heated, and this can produce sensations of burns.
It is not always easy to obtain access to the place for the candle.
What is more, given that the candle must be placed under the container containing the substance, the flame of the candle is largely invisible and is therefore difficult to use to create a warm and peaceful ambience, like an ordinary candle.